Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers shouts to his team in the first half during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers (25) shouts to his team in the first half during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts after being called with a foul in the first half during an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan speaks with coach Doc Rivers during the second half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz on Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum (11) brings the ball up court in the second half during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A tattoo of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is shown on the leg of Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers (25) in the second half during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell celebrates after a teammate scores against the Los Angeles Clippers in the final minutes of the second half during an NBA basketball game Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

SALT LAKE CITY — Doc Rivers stalked the Clippers’ sideline Thursday, hands on hips, shouting instructions. He folded his arms and paced some more, obstructing the views of some of the paying customers nearest the court. Finally, he sat down and watched from his seat on the bench.

What more could he do?

The Clippers didn’t reach the end of the line with their 117-95 loss to the Utah Jazz, but they could see it as they trudged to their locker room at game’s end. The Clippers desperately needed a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Jazz wouldn’t let them have it.

“I just thought the team that’s probably in the playoffs played harder than the team that’s trying to get in,” said Rivers, the Clippers’ coach. “That rarely happens with us, but it happened to us tonight. We got frustrated early as a group and I thought it carried over.”

It might have been the defeat that put an end to their playoff chase, but in reality there were so many other games, and so many injuries that derailed them. Technically, they’re still alive with three games remaining, but the odds were extended greatly after losing to Utah.

The Clippers started the day in 10th place in the Western Conference standings, two games out of the eighth and final spot. They needed to win all four of their final games and get the right kind of results in other contests involving conference teams to rally for a seventh consecutive playoff berth.

Rivers deployed his 35th different starting lineup of the season, but it didn’t have the desired impact. There were no more answers. The Clippers never led and were never really in the game after the first quarter. They trailed by as many as 20 in the second and by as many as 30 in the fourth.

Austin Rivers led the Clippers with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Lou Williams, the Clippers’ leading scorer this season with an average of 22.7 points, was held to 12 on 3-for-12 shooting. Montrezl Harrell scored 17 in a reserve role and Tobias Harris added 11.

Donovan Mitchell scored 19 for Utah.

“We played like (expletive) on both ends of the floor,” Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. “They had more energy. They were more physical. It looked like the game mattered more to them than it did to us. We got our (expletive) kicked. It was as simple as that.”

The Clippers had zero margin for error, but that wasn’t new. They had been playing on the edge for quite some time. They also had nothing going at the start, which was more or less a repeat of Tuesday. They would have to rally from a big deficit again if they hoped to win Thursday.

Much as the San Antonio Spurs did Tuesday, the Jazz moved themselves and the ball around the court at a dizzying pace. The Clippers stuck with it and wiped out a 19-point second-quarter deficit to defeat the Spurs, after they seemed incapable of keeping up with San Antonio.

Thursday, the Clippers trailed 54-34 midway through the second quarter, but this time it looked different. It wasn’t just that the Clippers couldn’t match the Jazz’s energy in the first half, but they also couldn’t keep them in front of them. Or keep the Jazz from getting behind them.

Utah burned the Clippers from the perimeter and from the paint.

The Clippers’ frustration was obvious. Harris drew a technical foul for complaining about a no-call. He believed he had been fouled midway through the second quarter, but the officials believed otherwise and since they had the whistles they also had the final say.

The Jazz lost Ricky Rubio and then Jae Crowder to first-half injuries. Rubio departed after scoring nine points and playing 8:08 in the first quarter because of a sore left hamstring. Crowder left after suffering a corneal abrasion when teammate Derrick Favors poked him in the eye.

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They got zero sympathy from the battered and bruised Clippers, who were without three guards because of season-ending surgeries, plus a fourth with a potential season-ending foot injury, plus a starting forward with a potential season-ending hand injury.

Doc Rivers started Harrell in place of Sindarius Thornwell and Williams in place of Tyrone Wallace to begin the third quarter, but the Clippers only fell farther behind. Asked if made the changes because he was desperate for a spark, Rivers said, “I couldn’t put Sam Cassell in.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.